


a house is not a home without a pet

by Abarero



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Domestic Fluff, M/M, Post-Series
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-03
Updated: 2019-05-03
Packaged: 2020-02-16 10:37:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,441
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18689803
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abarero/pseuds/Abarero
Summary: There had to be some strange unwritten rule of the universe that two people with a home and no children must be in dire need of more pets.





	a house is not a home without a pet

**Author's Note:**

> This was my piece for the YOI Home zine focusing on my favorite part of my home- our pets. Maru the cat was pretty much based one of ours that we found as a stray when we moved in.

It all began with a cat.

 

They’d found the perfect little house in Hasetsu, close enough to Ice Castle and Yu-Topia for comfort but far enough away for a little privacy. Iit overlooked the ocean, and Yuuri had fallen in love with the beginnings of a small flower garden in back and Victor had suggested that they build their own little garden there. Cozy and simple, it was to be their first house together.

 

Makkachin was getting old, already finding an ideal spot to sunbathe in, and they’d even talked about possibly adding a pond into the garden for some koi. They had not planned for a cat, but it appeared the cat had planned for them.

 

For on their first day in their new home, a bundle of black fur and wide piercing eyes was waiting for them on the back doorstep. Yuuri had finally opened the door, wondering if it was just a local stray that was looking for scraps, and as if the cat owned the place, it strolled right in and nonchalantly joined Makkachin in the best sunbathing spot in the house.

 

They’d asked the neighbors, hoping it belonged to someone, but in turn they discovered something else; this _was_ the cat’s home, but the previous owner had left it behind.

 

“So let me get this straight, your new place came with a cat?”

 

Victor had called Christophe, and Yuuri now sat beside him on the couch as they tried to explain their situation to him. It had been a mutual decision that they couldn’t turn the cat out of its own home, and that they were just going to have to fit it into their lives even if it was entirely unplanned.

 

“It’s her home. Or his, we still aren’t sure,” Victor replied.

 

The image of Christophe on the video feed blurred as he shook his head. “Well if you’re asking me to take in another one, I can’t.”

 

“No, no we’re…”

 

“We’re going to keep it,” Yuuri interjected, his eyes already finding the blob of black fur standing out starkly in their unpacked room. “They’ve already been through enough.”

 

Victor nodded. “We just don’t know where to begin with owning a cat and thought you could help.”

 

Christophe chuckled. “Barely had the house a day and you’re already taking on another pet. I warned you that once you settled down, it would happen.”

 

They laughed it off at the time, but little did they know it was only the beginning.

 

* * *

 

There had to be some strange unwritten rule of the universe that two people with a home and no children must be in dire need of more pets.

 

Or, at least, that’s what Yuuri told himself while buried under a purring pile of black fur when Victor informed him of the new addition to the house.

 

“You don’t think Maruchan will try and eat it, do you?” Victor mused from the kitchen.

 

“Maru is scared of the koi, thunderstorms, his own shadow and the reflection of light off my World’s gold medal in the sunlight. He’ll probably take one look at that little fish and clamber into my arms afraid it’ll attack him.”

 

“Well,” Victor’s voice was warm, if a bit bemused at Yuuri’s accurate summary of their cat, “it is called a fighting fish.”

 

Maru tensed in Yuuri’s arms.

 

“He heard that and now he’s going to have nightmares about the fish beating him up.”

 

“He’d better not. It’s bad enough when it’s storming and you have to fall asleep holding his paw instead of my hand.”

 

Yuuri knew Victor wasn’t truly jealous, but it was a fact that sometimes the cat could hog his attention.

 

“Maru has anxiety,” Yuuri countered.

 

“Maybe he needs a friend.”

 

Yuuri chuckled, a smile quirking at his lips. “We’ve barely lived here three months and we’ve already gotten a cat, a pond of koi and now this new betta.”

 

“It was a gift. Sachiko-chan is too young to understand that it can’t live with our koi, and I didn’t want to disappoint her.”

 

Victor entered the living room at that, arms full of half-full fish tank with a little purple-blue betta floating atop in a plastic bag. Maru eyed it warily as Victor set it on the cabinet against the wall.

 

“That’s a big tank for one fish.”

 

“I was thinking we… might get him a few friends.”

 

Yuuri leveled him a look. “Victor.”

 

“I don’t want him to be _lonely_.”

 

And really, if the sad little fish bobbing in his bag wasn’t enough to tug Yuuri’s heartstrings, Victor’s innocent and wide blue eyes definitely sealed his fate.

 

“The pet store suggested a few types of tankmates when I got the supplies, but I wanted you to help me pick them out.”

 

One dog, one cat, ten koi, a betta and now…

 

Yuuri gave Maru one last kiss on the nose before settling him down on the other end of the couch.

 

“Okay, let me get my shoes…”

 

By the time the sun had set that evening, they’d furnished the tank with elaborate decorations and given their betta four corydora catfish, two kuhli loaches and a pair of zebra snails as friends.

 

* * *

 

 

“Yuuri, I would trust no one more with this.”

 

“But we have a cat.”

 

Phichit gave him a look, intense even through the videofeed. “That cat is scared of the fish smaller than his paw.”

 

“Maybe catfish whiskers make them look more intimidating?”

 

“Yuuri. _Please_. It’s like a surrogate child of mine. I want you to have one.”

 

As if to emphasize the point, Phichit held up the hamster to the camera.

 

“Look how adorable their mom is? They’re going to grow up to be extra precious!”

 

“Just… one right?”

 

Phichit nodded. “I can bring it to Skate America next month. The babies will be weaned by then.”

 

Yuuri glanced over his shoulder to where Victor was piled in Makkachin and Maruchan cuddles on the other end of the couch.

 

“One more pet wouldn’t hurt,” Victor noted.

 

Yuuri gave Phichit a hesitant smile. “Okay, I’ll take one of your baby hamsters.”

 

Phichit grinned. “You won’t regret it.”

 

* * *

 

Yuuri never quite realized how oddly soothing the clattering of two hamster wheels along with the aquarium water running was as background noise until he’d spent an extended time without it.

 

The Olympic village had definitely been _loud_ , but not the way Yuuri wanted it to be. It made him more homesick than usual when he was out at competitions, to be perfectly honest.

 

Having Victor with him helped. _A lot_ _._

 

But it wasn’t home without their ever growing menagerie of pets there with them, something that Victor had agreed upon when Yuuri voiced it aloud one night.

 

So, tired and aching and still in disbelief of the medal he came home with, Yuuri was glad to be home and surrounded by the animals that had come to be family as much as Victor had.

 

Even now, while Victor insisted Yuuri rest while he went to pick up dinner, Yuuri didn’t feel lonely at all, even if he was watching the clock tick by and waiting for Victor to return.

 

Victor was home in a person, a touchstone that Yuuri was blessed to almost always have at his side.

 

Their pets though? Each of them, in their own little ways, had carved out a niche of Yuuri’s heart that always felt empty when they weren’t there. Their little house in Hasetsu was home because it was their home too.

 

Home to dog and cat and two hamsters and fishes and loaches and snails.

 

“Yuuri, can you help me with the door?” Victor’s voice called from outside and Yuuri had to untangle himself from dog and cat before he could get to it.

 

When he opened it, Yuuri’s eyes went wide.

 

Because in Victor’s arms was a small golden retriever puppy.

 

“Victor… what…”

 

He handed the puppy over and gave Yuuri a kiss right as the dog leaned up to lick across his chin, both of them laughing. When Victor pulled back, he looked fond and proud.

 

“There was an interview you did at Japanese nationals when you were still in juniors. They asked what you would do if you won gold at the Olympics and you shyly said you’d like to have a puppy.”

 

Yuuri smiled, heart full. “That was forever ago.”

 

“I know. But you earned it. Your own golden reward.”

 

He wrapped an arm around Victor, puppy wiggling between them, and pecked a kiss to the tip of Victor’s nose; the puppy eagerly following suit.

 

“Well,” Yuuri murmured, “I suppose we have room for _just_ one more.”

  
  
  



End file.
